You might have heard of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. That cute little life sim which came out at the prime time of the global pandemic had us all picking weeds, catching fish and paying bills (extortionately priced, we might add) when we weren't able to be outside picking weeds, catching fish or payi- wait, we still had to do that one.
Well, it's that very game which has today overtaken Pokémon Red and Blue in Japan to become the country's best-selling game of all time.
Shared on Twitter by @GameDataLibrary - the largest database of Japanese game sales on the internet - New Horizons hit the impressive mark of 10,450,000 units sold, putting it above the 1996 Kanto-set classic which finds itself on a measly 10,230,000 (just kidding, Pokémon, your number is very impressive too). This means that Tom Nook and co. now officially hold the title of Japan's best-selling game - a feat that we imagined could happen when we were all playing back in 2020, but never thought would come about this quickly.
Almost more impressive still is the fact that of the country's top 20 best-selling games, 19 of them belong to Nintendo consoles. Bar Capcom's Monster Hunter Freedom 3 on the PSP (which never saw a European or American release), the chart is a straight sweep for Nintendo, with studio classics like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. finding themselves amongst Square Enix's Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies on the DS (a title that we still can't quite believe is Japan's best-selling game in the Dragon Quest series).
The list also reveals that Splatoon 3 has managed to ink its way to 17th in the ranking of Japan's best-selling games of all time, just two places below its predecessor. After becoming the country's best-selling game of 2022 we knew that it was on a roll, but to break into the all-time list after only a few months of being out?? Now that's quite something!
Of course, nothing comes close to New Horizons - our new supreme leader. Whether something like Splatoon 3 can continue its popularity over the next few years and take the throne remains to be seen (somehow, we doubt that it will), but until then New Horizons sets a pretty insurmountable sales record.
What do you make of this list of Japan's all-time best-sellers? Let us know in the comments below!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 36
Hopefully this maybe makes them reconsider more dlc.
Now you can see why Sony focus on the west
That is really cool. I love how varied gaming can be sometimes.
@bonjong23 I’m afraid they let that pass.
On the other hand, MK8d got dlc years later…
Ok but 5 million from Splatoon 3 alone is insanity, especially since this data only covers up to September 30th
How is zelda not even in the top 20 or mario odyssey
Overtook the original Pokemon huh? Impressive.
It's interesting to see how different cultures flock to certain games more than others.
8% of all Japanese people have bought Animal Crossing.
Wow. Insane attach rate.
@Axecon It will never come close to Animal Crossing though
So, what about that story about Dragon Quest III being so popular, they released it at the weekend, so people wouldn't bunk off work/school to play it?
That's not even in the top 20.
@NEMO86 Generally speaking, Zelda and 3D Mario are just not as popular in Japan as they are in the west.
Seriously?
Has that list been filtered or something?
Where are all the PlayStation games?
Animal crossing is the best-selling game, yet they abandoned it a little over a year ago...
Let's celebrate its #1 spot with some more DLC!
@gcunit LMAO haha
@Bmartin001 Maybe not this cycle, but the next iteration could. Shooters usually sell better each iteration (look at COD and Overwatch 2 setting records in the US).
@ketrac True dat! Animal Crossing DLC might be coming next year. Cant argue with the Booster Pass coming YEARS later. And boy I cant wait for Wave 3.
Tom Nook and the Squid Kids eating in Japan....lol.
I put 500 hours into New Horizons and really enjoyed it, but I just haven't had the time to play the last few months. I should get back into it, because there's still a lot of stuff I want to do.
It really did just seem to come out at the perfect time. I bought it and played it for a while but like with most AC games I just got bored. If another one ever gets release I think I'll pass.
No I'll probably buy it, have fun for like a week and then regret it all over again.
@Eagly It moved slightly fewer units than last month and got outsold by the PS5 in the Eurozone, a historically weak market. Obviously it's one foot in the grave and needs to hit the retirement home.
Ok. I feel like those numbers mean DQ9 needs a remake.
@gcunit looking up dvd sales and maybe bluray sales would likely explain the PS sales. In part at least.
@Guru_Larry
That is a story mixed with myth, but in the end, is all about time periods. Look at the release date of those games. Aside from the pack in game SMB, all the games came after DQ3, long after that particular game had its time as the best selling and back when the Japanese market was (comparatively speaking) bigger than the western markets, so selling +3 million in a single week was a big deal and 3.8 million total was enough to become the best selling not pack-in game at the time.
Come today, and when you consider that GTA V sold 170 millions you can see how the market has changed and how the Japanese is but a small fraction of it.
As for the legend, is precisely because of the success for it's day of games like DQ3 that companies do release their games at weekend ...not because if some japanese law as the myth goes but just to increase initial sales.
So Japan had over 60% of Splatoon 3 sales by the end of September? I better get a copy and start to even out that percentage.
Tom Nook has raked in so many bells.. so so many
@NEMO86 Breath of the Wild sold 3 million copies in Japan and Super Mario Odyssey a bit below 3 million.
The more impressive fact is that the Pokemon games are multiple releases, and while not everybody buys 2 (or even 3), many people do. Animal Crossing (and Smash and Mario Kart just behind in 5 and 6) don't have that benefit.
People can debate about whether New Horizons is that good of an Animal Crossing game, but on its own, it was just the kind of game that was perfect for the moment, and still has value for those who are big into customization. Still sad that Nintendo has done so little with it and yet gave Mario Kart DLC years later. Yes, Mario Kart has remarkably sold slightly more than New Horizons on Switch, but it's another example of Nintendo sitting on another gold mine.
Ok but, what about the other consoles games?
@EriXz
The article isn't lying. Nintendo actually holds 19 out of the 20 spots on this list. Only 1 game is on other platforms.
@NEMO86 Legend of Zelda and 3D Mario games are not popular in japan, as they in the western.
is impressive that 19 games by Nintendo or from franchises closer to Nintendo has managed to become the top 19 best selling games on japan, Sony/Microsoft will need to work hard to take away Nintendo dominance on japan.
Interesting that out of these 20, 18 of them are Nintendo published. More surprised though that there isn't more Monster Hunter on the list, since I've heard that it's pretty popular in Japan.
@EliJapan Mixing up IX and XI?
IX is on DS. XI is on modern systems.
@EriXz @gcunit It is no surprise, coz from the list of GLOBAL (worldwide) best-selling video games of all time in Wikipedia, there are 24 Nintendo-published games out of 50 best, and only 1 Sony-published game.
The biggest surprise to me is that Final Fantasy is no where to be seen. To think that FF7 pretty much single-handedly cost Nintendo their dominance with consoles in Japan.
Japan loves Animal Crossing. I love that game too.
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